Poor construction: Two labourers die, three injured as under-construction building collapses

The roof of the two-storey building had been built 10 days ago.

LAHORE:

Two labourers died and three were injured when two storeys of an under-construction commercial building in Bismillah Town, Manawan, caved in on Tuesday.

Rescue-1122 officials said that building’s ceiling had been completed 10 days ago. The labourers were working on the second storey and had just removed the shuttering and scaffolding from under the ceiling. Rescue-1122 officials, quoting the labourers on the site, said the men were about to leave for lunch when the ceiling collapsed on them. This caused the roof of the first floor to cave in as well and the entire building collapsed. They said the men were trapped under the rubble for at least three hours.

People in the area informed Rescue-1122 and began evacuating the labourers from under the debris. They managed to remove quite a lot of debris before Rescue-1122 arrived and evacuated the labourers.

Rizwan, 20, and Siddique, 45, had passed away. Javed, 35, Usman, 30, and Qayyum, 30, were taken to Ghurki Hospital.

Police also arrived at the scene. Manawan DSP Nadeem Butt told The Express Tribune that poor quality material had been used to construct the building. Police have arrested Tanveer, the building contractor, and have filed a case under Section 332 of the Pakistan Penal Code (causing hurt or injury) against him. Police said the owner of the building, Tariq Bajwa, was on the run.

The DSP said that Siddique was a resident of Sheikhupura and Rizwan was from Kasur. He said their families were informed and the bodies handed over for burial.

Wagha Town Town Municipal Officer Ehsan Sarwar Zaidi told The Express Tribune that a team had been constituted by the city government to probe into the matter. He said a report was sent to the district coordination officer.

Zaidi said several experts, including architects, had helped the team reach the conclusion that the contractor had used more sand in the construction to save money.

TMO Zaidi also said that the minimum curing period before removing the shuttering and scaffolding for concrete roofs is at least 15 days. This one was removed after 10 days...that coupled with the substandard material used to build it brought the structure crashing down.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2014.